What is the word when you can see the moon and the sun at the same time?

Question

What is the word when you can see the moon and the sun at the same time?

Answer 1

when the moon is in front of the sun it is called a lunar eclipse but when the sun is in front of the moon its called a solar eclipse.  But most of the time you can always see the moon when its light out.  It tends to feel like your looking at the sun because of how close they are but you're not.  I don't believe there is a specific name for that.

Answer 2

A new moon.

You might be thinking of alignment in general.  That would be syzygy.

Answer 3

...It is called an eclipse...

What causes eclipses of the Sun?



As the Moon orbits around the Earth, the Moon crosses the direction from the Earth to the Sun once every 29 days 12 hours and 44 minutes. We call this moment New Moon. The Moon actually becomes visible again a day or two after New Moon, as a thin crescent in the evening sky.

The plane of the orbit of the Moon around the Earth is tilted at 5 degrees to the plane of the Earth's orbit around the Sun. Hence at the time of New Moon, the Moon usually passes above or below the Sun, as seen from Earth, and there is no eclipse.



The picture above shows how the Earth (blue) orbits the Sun (yellow), while the orbit of the Moon (grey) around the Earth is tilted (diagram not to scale). (picture at http://www.hartrao.ac.za/other/eclipse20... )

There are two places in the Moon's orbit where it can pass exactly between the Sun and the Earth. These are called the nodes of the orbit. If the Moon is at or near either of these nodes at New Moon, an eclipse of the Sun occurs. There is an interval of 31 days that occurs every 5.8 months, when the alignment to give us eclipses can happen.

As the sizes of the Moon and Sun as seen from the Earth are almost the same, the Moon can completely block the light of the Sun over a small part of the Earth. In the same way, you can block out a distant building by holding your hand in front of it, even though the building is much bigger than your hand.

The Moon passing in front of the Sun produces a shadow that moves from west to east over the Earth. Where the sunlight is completely blocked, in the "umbra", a total eclipse is seen. Where the sunlight is only partly blocked by the Moon, in the "penumbra", a partial eclipse is seen.

Note that the diagram above is not to scale! The Sun is really 110 times bigger than the Earth, and very much further away than as it is shown in the diagram above.

Answer 4

eclipse

Answer 5

Daytime? Since this happens every month, it's not unusual enough to require a special name.

Answer 6

There isn't a special name for it. Look up during the day and usually you can see the moon in the sky and see the sun too.

Answer 7

daytime

Answer 8

There is no special name, since it is relatively common.

At New Moon, when the Moon is in the same direction as the Sun (July 2) we can't see it -- the side facing us is dark and it is lost in the glare of the Sun.

Four or five days later, when it has moved sufficiently away from the Sun, you can see it during the day (mostly in the afternoon) if you know exactly where to look.

At First Quarter (July 10), the Moon will rise at noon.  It will be at its highest for that day at sunset.  It will set around midnight.  Being 90 degrees from the Sun, it is relatively easy to see.  Polarizing filters (like polarizing sunglasses) will help because the scattered blue light (giving the sky its daytime blue color) is very polarized at 90 degrees from the Sun.

During the next week, the Moon becomes easier and easier to see during the day, except that it rises later and later.

At Full Moon (July 18), it is opposite the Sun:  it rises at sunset and sets at sunrise.  Theoretically, it cannot be visible in the sky at the same time as the Sun; in practice -- because of air refraction and the inclination of the Moon's orbit compared to the ecliptic -- it is sometimes possible to see the Full Moon either just a bit before sunset or just a bit after sunrise.

After Full Moon (say around July 21), you have to look west in the morning sky.

At Last Quarter (July 25), the Moon rises around midnight.  It reaches its highest altitude (due south for us in the northern hemisphere) at sunrise.  It sets around noon.  So the Last Quarter Moon will be visible in the sky in the morning, 90 degrees from the Sun (same hint about polarized sunglasses).

Then it gets closer and closer to the Sun, making it more difficult to see (it gets fainter AND moves closer to the glare of the Sun), until you reach New Moon once again (August 1) and the whole thing begins again.

This New Moon (Aug. 1) is special because the Moon does get in front of the Sun (solar eclipse).  We don't really see the Moon. What we see is that part of the Sun cannot be seen because the Moon is in the way.  So we see the shape of the Moon, not the Moon itself.

By the way, don't look at the eclipse without protection.  It is always dangerous to look directly at the Sun.  What makes eclipses particularly dangerous is that people will force themselves to look for minutes at a time because they know something is going on.  That is dangerous (and you do not feel your retina burning because there are no pain receptors there -- if you notice a problem, then it is already too late).

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The Sun, being much further away (around 400 times further) can never get in front of the Moon.

A Lunar eclipse is when the Moon passes in Earth's shadow.  It stops receiving sunlight so it darkens for about an hour or two.  This happens a couple of times per year.